Anyone had problems with 2009 shells not firing properly?

[IndianaPyro]

I have now had several customers of mine report buying shells from me that barely made it out of the tube, landed on the ground, and went off right by the tube. At first I was thinking user error, but I have had about 5 customers report this now and I trust at least 2 of them to know what they are doing.

This has happened with both ball and canister shells and the shells have come from different wholesalers. I know for certain that once they were in my possession they didn't get wet.

Anyone else experienced anything like this or have any thoughts? This one definitely has me stumped.

[ILUVBUDWSR]

Sounds like they were weighted with too many dragon eggs! LOL j/k

On a serious note. It sounds to me like a lift problem. I got several shells this year that were low quality and they barley had enough lift to get them in the sky. Who manufactured the shells if you dont mind me asking? I know of one manufacturer who skimped on eveything this year.

[Reeferman]

Sounds like weak lift charges to me. These are way more dangerous than OL's.

[runvs00]

Had a few problems with one box of American Chiefs, other than that 275 shells were fine...

[HeLLy]

I bought End of Days/w Tails.. every single tube fired.. whether it was chained fused or individually.

[IndianaPyro]

I have reports of shells doing this from 3 different wholesalers and to the best of my knowledge, as many different manufacturers. Just seems odd to me. I have shot thousands of shells and never had this happen, and then I seem to be getting report after report this year.

[Barracuda]

What were the shells?


Honestly I P, I'm gonna say it's just weird, and a fluke.

If they were the same shells, even if from different wholesalers then o.k., I see the possibility for concern...at least questioning.

Maybe it's like the great SmokeandMirrorGate from a few years past.

[IndianaPyro]

I had a report of 3 hard n heavy's from a kit that did that. Then a report of a maximum exposure doing it, and a report of some of the generic artillery shells from bigs doing it. I think that was all the shells involved. I keep thinking it's just a fluke, and then someone else tells me that they had a shell do the same thing.

[carguy07]

I bought End of Days/w Tails.. every single tube fired.. whether it was chained fused or individually.

Same here, every one went perfect.

[strobes]

I had a report of 3 hard n heavy's from a kit that did that. Then a report of a maximum exposure doing it, and a report of some of the generic artillery shells from bigs doing it. I think that was all the shells involved. I keep thinking it's just a fluke, and then someone else tells me that they had a shell do the same thing.

I remember reading somewhere that 1 in 3000 shells does not function as it should.

[Firecracker-Jim]

I remember reading somewhere that 1 in 3000 shells does not function as it should.

Yea i had that, but 3 out of 1000 shells.

im used to hearing the nice thump from the tube and then the sky lights up...some, all i heard was a fart or poof...then BOOM!

catches me off guard

Jim

[strobes]

Yea i had that, but 3 out of 1000 shells.

im used to hearing the nice thump from the tube and then the sky lights up...some, all i heard was a fart or poof...then BOOM!

catches me off guard

Jim

Opps, looks like i misplaced the numbers

[Medictrode]

Out of an entire 2 cases,I had 1 Orion branded "Whistle Buster" shell blow real low.I know with the more name branded shells that whistle,I have had many fail in the past.1 I wasn't too concerned about,and to be honest it made a cool albeit dangerous effect..:-)...I usually use the cheaper shells for "fluff" before I shoot the more expensive,higher and louder shells in the finale...

[blurr95]

Could it have been a moisture issue. All my shells made it into the air, but they didn't seem to go as high as usual. We had a lot of rain on the 4th, and on the 5th when we shot there was a lot of dew.

Jason

[Realwood]

Wasn't there also a cake that had moisture issues?

[DocT]

I put 300+ shells in the sky on July 11th no problem.

[independence]

Fired a mix of Hard & Heavy, Quad Squad, and American Chief Shells. All of them fired just fine.

[havenfun]

I had 2 max exposure shells do this to me (bulk pack). Since we had rain on sat I figured moisture. I did hear of some excals with upside down lables with 2009 on the box.

[jrallen13]

I had alot more low breaks this year than in years past but I think I can attribute that to the amount of moisture and density the air had to it. I shot mainly KOD'S and Evil Balls, several cases of each. I also had a Dominator's NOAB strobe and brocade had some serious issues. First shot went sideways as if it literally broke loose on the lift (it was solid when I placed it), next shot low break about 40 feet up, next shoot low break about 20 feet up and then a muzzle break about 2-3 feet from me. Yeah that one left some bruised ribs when I caught it, no burns thanks to being in full turnout gear but still sore. The last five shots never fired, thanks to someone watching the show from up above! I also had 2 reapers 2-1/4" that lifted really odd and did not break just made for a trucker bomb coming back down, after inspecting those the shells lifted leaving the bottom portion in the tube and the shell headed skyward never igniting the leader fuse into the body. No harm no foul would rather have that then a low break.

[Midak]

Every Excal that fired went so high, the video camera did not get them all in. Three did not fire but that was due to no pass fire (my error.)

[kingofquartz]

Yea i had that, but 3 out of 1000 shells.

im used to hearing the nice thump from the tube and then the sky lights up...some, all i heard was a fart or poof...then BOOM!

catches me off guard

Jim

That sounds about right. I had two failed time fuses out of 600 shells in which the shell went up and came back down without going boom. One was a excal and one was a iron revenger.

[fireworkfan504]

my only problem I had was with 2 tnt artillery shells but,it was my fault because the shell did not go all thw way town the tube and it did not get enough lift and it broke low but as far as shells not working right I did not have any problems

[Pyro-Man]

No issues here whatsoever. Only fired about 100 shells purchased in 2009, though. Mostly came from Victory (Rambo Kids, Double Lightnings, Iron Revengers)...

[Bmiller]

I had some low breaks but after investigation found that the plugs were deteriorated in some of my tubes causing loss of lift. Those tubes are now RETIRED. Usually I shake every shell when I unwrap them and listen for the lift charge rattle so when I get a low break it is usually caused by a bad or worn out tube.

[PyRo-MaNiAc]

I used a case and a half of what i had left and a half a case of this years KOD's. Every one of them went up perfectly.

[Bill Corbett]

I had 3 racks blow up this year, first time ever for this. I had help loading them and used 5 different brands of shells?????

[mgh1980]

Nope, what ever low breaks I had(2 of them) were my fault They were due to lift cups from previous shells in my racks that I attempted to reload. All my fault. Otherwise, they all went off perfectly.

[lil_mikey69]

I didn't have any problems with reloadables.

A couple of my 500 gram cakes broke so low that stars hit the ground, but nothing major.

[HairOnFire]

A full case of 12x6 Pyro Encore and a full case of the 4x24 KoD's, and only had one of the KoD shells that the fuse went into the shell, but no ignition (I think this is called a misfire). The new KoD's were a little more impressive than the SnM's that were fired next door (my semi-biased opinion!).

Good thread.
Michael

[QMAN]

The only problem I had this year was a leftover 3" Bigs Reaper tube. There was no lift at all. It was lit and as soon as the visco burn down and went into the tube the whole thing flowerpotted right there on the ground. And from looking at the tube it blew from the bottom. It wasn't like it got half way up the tube and just went early.

The only other thing I noticed this year were my Excals. The breaks were fine, but the lift seemed louder. I cant say they went all that much higher, but something about the lift seemed audibly different.

We did have a 2" Lidu shell not break at a show I helped with last weekend. We were "testing the wind" and it lifted fine and then came right back down. It was a little freaky till we had it soaking in water.